A L'Derry tyre recycler has been ordered to pay a confiscation order after being convicted on four counts under the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1997.

Mr James Joseph Heaney, 46, from Spruce Meadows, was ordered to pay £50,000, within three months, under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

He was given 240 hours community service on each charge, to run concurrently.

-- Advertisement --

During July and November 2008, officers from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) investigated two sites operated by Mr Heaney at Pennyburn Industrial Estate and Campsie Real Estate in Londonderry, where substantial quantities of waste tyres had been deposited.

The two sites were abandoned in 2009 with around 20,000 tyres deposited at the Pennyburn site and approximately 385,500 tyres left at the (unlicensed) Campsie site.

The Pennyburn site was set alight on 18 August 2009, and the Campsie site on 4 October 2009, the resulting fires deemed 'major incidents'. An Eglinton primary school was forced to close during the Campsie fire, which took four days to bring under control and involved around 70 fire fighters and eight pumps.